SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
BULLETIN
143
HANDBOOK
OF
SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS
Julian H. Steward, Editor
Volume
3
THE TROPICAL FOREST TRIBES
Extraído do volume 3 (1948) do
Handbook of South American Indians.
Disponível para download em
http://www.etnolinguistica.org/hsai
Prepared in Cooperation With the United States Department of State as a Project
of the Interdepartmental Committee on Scientific and Cultural Cooperation
UNITED STATES
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
WASHINGTON
1948
:
For
Documents, U. S. Goyernment Frintinc
Washington 25, D. C.
aale by the Superintendent of
Office.
LOWER AND MIDDLE XINGC RIVER
TRIBES OF THE
By Curt Nimuendaju
GEOGRAPHIC BACKGROUND
The Xingii Basin, as far south as lat. 7° S., is exclusively characterized
by Amazonian virgin forest, whose wealth of rubber and nuts attracted
From
the attention of civilized man.
that latitude south or upstream,
savannas appear, becoming more and more predominant southward, until
the forest
is
reduced to a narrow border along watercourses, sometimes
even encroaching upon the river banks.
country.
It is rolling
The "Morro Grande"
of the Xingii River rises
(300 m.) above the level of the river. The watercourses
are interrupted by rapids and the Xingii River beyond Volta Grande
is one of the most difficult rivers in Brazil to navigate.
Over long
stretches the bed of the river is filled with enormous rocks cut through
to
some 975
by channels
The
tribes
ft.
full
of rapids.
(map
1,
No. 1
The
;
see
Iriri
River
Volume
1,
of similar type.
is
map
7) of this region
may
be classified according to these geographical features into three groups.
(1) Canoeing tribes restricted to the Xingii,
Iriri,
and Curua Rivers:
Yuruna, Ship ay a, Arupai.
(2) Tribes of the central virgin forest: Curuaya, Arara, Asurini, and,
formerly, Tacunyape.
(3) Savanna tribes that only temporarily invade the forest zone:
Northern Cayapo, which were dealt with in Lowie's paper on "The
Northwestern and Central Ge" (Handbook, vol. 1, pp. 477-517).
CULTURAL SUMMARY
Farming, with manioc the staple crop, was the basis of subsistence
all these tribes except perhaps the Arara, who were less clearly
among
Caimans,
horticultural.
wild foods.
turtles,
honey, and Brazil nuts were outstanding
The Yuruna, Shipaya, and Tacunyape
dwellings in isolated places for fear of attack.
built large
communal
Excellent canoemen, the
Yuruna and Shipaya lived along the rivers, whereas the other tribes kept
Houses were furnished with wooden stools and hammocks.
Dress included breechclouts (?) {Curuaya), women's wraparound skirts, and men's penis covers ( Yuruna and Shipaya), and women's
to the forests.
213
SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS
214
aprons (Tacupyape)
feather
pendants
.
headdresses,
Ornaments were the
arm and leg bands,
(Arara), and
plugs
lip
[B.A.E. Bull. 143
usual Tropical Forest types:
necklaces,
ear
Among
{Curuaya).
sticks,
nose
manufactures,
which suffered because of much nomadism enforced by warfare, were:
(Yuruna) ceramics, which are usually plain; incised
gourds (Shipaya) and stone axes. The bow and arrow was the main
weapon.
Cotton textiles
;
;
The
sociopolitical unit
was the
village,
seemingly patrilineal in organiza-
and in descent of chieftainship. There was little polygyny and family
ties were very strong.
Intertribal relations involved intermittent warfare,
with cannibalism ascribed to the Yuruna and Shipaya and trophies more
general.
The latter include skulls (Yuruna, Shipaya, Curuaya), bone
trumpets (Yuruma), tooth necklaces (Shipaya), and scalps (Arara).
These tribes drank much fermented liquor, but had no drunken brawls.
tion
The Yuruna smoked
tobacco in cigarettes.
Musical instruments include
panpipes; shaman's gourd rattles; gourd horns; gourd, wooden, and
human-skull trumpets; bone
dominating
art
motif
is
flutes,
the
clarinets,
maze;
and
sculpture
whistles.
The
reproduced
pre-
mythical
personages.
Shipaya and probably Yuruna religion was based on a cult of the jaguar
demon, who was the patron of war and cannibalism, and a feast of the
dead, in which men and women drank chicha. The Tacunyape had a
similar feast.
The shaman, in the capacity of priest, served as intermediary between people and demons and souls. As medicine man, he
cured, without the aid of supernatural spirits, by sucking, massaging,
and blowing cigarette smoke to remove the disease-causing substance.
LINGUISTIC AFFINITIES
Of
the tribes on the lower and middle Xingu, the Arara stand apart
is so close to Yaruma (Paranayuba River, a
bank of the upper Xingii) as to permit the hypothesis
of a common ancestral tribe, the Arara turning north, the Yaruma south,
perhaps separating under Cayapo pressure (Ehrenreich, 1895).
as Carihan.
Their speech
tributary of the right
All other tribes are Tupi.
To
be sure, there
is
not the slightest record
of Asurini speech, but
an English missionary conversant with Guajajara
who spoke with a young Asurini woman captured by the Gorotire commented on the resemblance of her tongue to the language familiar to
him.
Accordingly, Asurini
the remaining languages
we
may
Martius (1867) and Lucien
ship of Yuruna, which
dorf,
Von den
is
Adam
(1896) challenge the Tupi relation-
and Brinton. Closer study leads me to the
Yuruna, Shipaya, Manitsaud, and perhaps
division of impure Tupi languages. Lexical Tupi
Steinen,
special
About
accepted by such competent authorities as Betten-
provisional conclusion that
Arupai form a
be reckoned as probably Tupi.
can be more positive.
;
Vol. 3]
TRIBES OF LOWER AND MIDDLE XINGU—NIMUENDAJU
215
elements in Yuruna are conspicuous, though often obscured by alterations
so that correspondences are proved only by comparison with Shipaya
and
Contrary to Adam's assumption, there are also
important grammatical features of Tupi type, though less numerous than
Manitsaud equivalents.
might be inferred from the large percentage of Tupi vocables. However,
the Yuruna group does differ greatly from Tupi proper, especially in the
pronominal system.
The
A
present author tentatively recognizes four com-
Tupi foundation, even anciently modified by strong
influences due to (2) Arazvak, and in lesser degree to (3) Carib languages
to these must be added (4) recent loans from the Lingua Geral.
Shipaya differs so little from Yuruna as to permit, with some trouble,
mutual intelligibility. Some two dozen words differ radically; otherwise
ponents:
(1)
regular shifts appear:
:
SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS
216
[B.A.E. Bull. 143
PREHISTORIC PEOPLES
Not only along
the
Xingu River and
its
larger affluents, the Iriri and
Fresco Rivers, but also along the smaller tributaries and subtributaries,
are found vestiges of a vanished population, whose culture differed from
The impression
that of the tribes found in the 20th century.
tribes formerly occupied all of the jungle region of the
is
that these
Xingu Basin,
These vestiges comprise
Dwelling
(1)
sites
found on points of
solid land jutting out to the
edge of the water and easily recognized by their "black earth," a cultural
layer containing fragments of pottery
The
pottery can be distinguished at
and stone instruments.
first sight from that of present-day
tribes.
On the lower Xingu and lower Iriri Rivers it is rich in plastic
adornment, recalling somewhat the pottery of the Monte Alegre region
or even of the Tapajo. The pottery of the middle Xingu River and its
affluents is plainer, with little plastic or
not uniform.
On
engraved ornamentation, and
is
the Igarape das Flechas River, a tributary of the upper
Curua River, two small stone
a man.
statuettes
were found, one representing a
beetle, the other
(2) Cemeteries. In the same "black earth" are found burial remains.
In the streets of Porto de Moz and Altamira, there may be seen the
mouths of urns covered by other vessels Panellas, a little above Altamira,
owes its name to such findings. In Porto Seguro, at lat. 7° 10' S., on a
permanent island of the Xingu River, funeral urns are found, and among
them superficially buried skeletons, lying stretched on their backs. Because of their size, all these urns could have served only for secondary
;
burials.
The presence
of funeral urns distinguished the culture of the Xingii
Basin from that of the neighboring Tapajo and
its affiliates.
Along the Itamaraca and Cajituba Falls of the Volta
Grande do Xingu, at Caxinguba (lat. 5° 20' S.), and along the lower
Pacaja and upper Iriri, the figures of men, of animals, and of unknown
meaning are engraved on the surface of the smooth rocks. The most
(3) Petroglyphs.
important are those at Itamaraca, already
known
to
the
first
Jesuit
missionaries in the 17th century, and one in Pacaja.
Monoliths.
(4)
are eight
meters
more or
(3^
carved.
the
may
lat.
7° 20'
S.,
which are from 1 to 2
height and are roughly broken off but not
to 6j'2
ft.)
in
There can be no doubt as
(5) At various
there
In a stony stretch of the Xingu River, at
less vertical small stone pillars,
to their artificial origin.
points of the middle
be found about 50
Xingu and
of the
lower
piles of small stone blocks
Iriri
Rivers,
on the slabs of
falls.
Stratification.
at least in part,
—Downstream from Volta Grande, these remains must,
be ascribed to the tribes which were encountered by the
—
Vol. 3]
first
TRIBES OF LOWER AND MIDDLE XINGU— NIMUENDAJU
explorers.
prehistoric
and
their origin.
Above
this point,
historic peoples.
When
however, there
The
217
a hiatus between the
is
Indians of today
know nothing
of
the Yuruna, Shipaya, Arupai, and other tribes ap-
no longer existed, probably having been
Northern Cayapo, who, coming from the
peared, the sedentary potters
annihilated by the expanding
open country of the south, spread throughout the Xingu Basin.
When
the Tupi tribes appeared, they found the
Cayapo already there, for their
traditions always make them coexistent, no story accounting for their
appearance. These Tupi tribes, with the exception of the Curuaya, the
westernmost tribe, succeeded in penetrating and inhabiting these regions
incidentally, with great difficulty
only because they were excellent boatmen and occupied the islands of the great rivers, while the Cayapo made
only very primitive craft, which they used exclusively to cross the rivers.
—
HISTORIC TRIBES
These populations disappeared, and no chronicler has
left
us any
The chart of Joannes
presence of Apehou on both sides
information of ethnographic value about them.
de Laet (1899), dated 1625, shows the
mouth of the Xingu River; in the Tupi language of the "He-"
Apehou means "man" (apihaw). After 1639, the Jesuits began
to establish themselves on the Xingu River, but no one knows what Indians
composed their missions. The first missionary, Luiz Figueira, preached
in 1636 in Tabpinima (the modern Itapinimaf) to Indians "who were
not well versed in the Lingua Geral," i. e., Tupi-Guarani, and founded
the Xingu mission later called Itacuruga and today known as Veiros.
Shortly after, five more missions were established. Old chronicles and
maps (Heriarte, 1874 [written in 1662] Samuel Fritz, 1922 [map of
of the
group,
;
1691]
;
Bettendorf, 1910 [written in 1699]) refer specially to three tribes:
the Coani, the
Geral.
river.
At
last
two spoke the Lingua
western side of the
Parana
that time the
that flows into the
Xingu, a
of
little
Aquiquy, an offshoot of the
The Guayapi were
ginning of Volta Grande
;
in 1763, they
Freguezia de Souzel.
Most
settled for a time at the be-
and the Yuruna were
Amazon
of Jary, and established themselves on the
The Guahuara
is
reported
River, probably by
way
Oyapock River, where they
tribe in
in the interior of the central forests (sertao).
the impression that this tribe
still
however, seems to have
of this tribe,
emigrated earlier to the north of the
are mentioned after 1729.
Amazon
above Porto de Moz, was known as
the "Coanizes River."
at
The
tribes probably inhabited the
Guahuara, and the Guayapi.
These three
1688 had 22 villages
From
identical with the
Bettendorf one gets
Curabare or Curuaya.
In the 19th century, writers no longer spoke of Indians on the lower
Xingu River, because the survivors had fused with the semicivilized population which spoke the Lingua Geral.
SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS
218
[B.A.E. Bull. 143
THE YURUNA
Synonyms.
—Juruna,
Jurnima, Jiiruhuna, Geruna (from the Tupi-
Guarani, yuru, "mouth," plus una, "black")
Ytidya
aya,
(meaning?)
;
macaw," plus wad, "people")
in
;
in
;
and Ship-
self -designation
Parawa-wad
Curuaya,
in
(parawa,
"blue
Arara, Paru-podeari (paru, "water")
;
Cayapo, No-iren (no, "water").
—
History, territory, and number. The first
memorial written by Maciel Parente (1874) in
Pacaja branch [of Portel] and the Parnahyba
provinces of the Pacajaras [Pacaja], Coanapus
hunas." (Lat. 5°-6"'
S., long.
53°
reference to this tribe
1626:
".
.
.
is
found
in a
the island between the
[Xingu]
where are situated the
[Anapu], Caraguatas [?], and Juru.
.
.
W.)
Afterward, during the entire 17th century,
we
learn only of the
attempts to reduce the Yuruna to the secular or clerical regime.
An
more or
less vain
The chronology
of
from Sao Paulo
descending the Xingu was attacked on one of the islands of the river; only two
tame Indians escaped, the rest being killed. An expedition commanded by the
Captain-General of Gurupa, Joao Velho do Valle, composed of 100 musketeers and
3,000 tame Indians, was driven back with heavy losses. In 1655 or 1657, the Jesuits
were able to settle two large divisions of the tribe in villages in Maturu (Porto de
Moz) this work was, however, interrupted by the first expulsion of the order in
Later (1665?) the Jesuits took some Yuruna and Tacunyape to the villages
1661.
happenings
these
is,
however,
very doubtful.
expedition
;
of the lower Xingu, but the majority returned to the plains.
Ynruna defeated another
In 1666 (?), the
Between 1682 and 1685, the Yuruna and Tacunyape
defeated an expedition of tame Indians and Caravare {Curuaya) led by Gon^alvcs
Paes de Araujo, inflicting great losses. Then the Yuruna started out in 30 war
party.
canoes to attack the civilized population.
In 1691 or 1692, the Jesuits failed
in
an
attempt to reopen relations, the Yuruna killing every one sent out to them.
According
to
Father Jose de Mello Moraes (1860), the Yuruna were settled in
its mouth.
As he sets
four small villages on islands of the Xingu, 30 leagues from
mouth and the first falls at 40 leagues, the Yuruna were
falls.
These tribes must have early abandoned this
place, however, retreating to above the falls of Volta Grande, where the Jesuits (in
the middle of the 18th century?) also had the mission of Anauera or Tauaquera,
a little above present-day Altamira. The missionaries were finally expelled by the
Indians, who were dissatisfied with their strictness.
During the following 150 years, there is no record of the tribes above Volta Grande,
the distance between the
still
10 leagues below those
which seem to have been
left to themselves, protected
their reputation as ferocious cannibals
;
by the dangerous
as late as 1831, their attacks
falls and by
were feared
above Souzel. In 1841, the Vicar of this village, Torquato Antonio de Souza, made
a new attempt to establish a mission in Tauaquera, which, after a few years, seems
to have been abandoned.
In 1843, the Yuruna, by that time completely tame, were visited by Prince Adalbert
of Prussia, guided by Father Torquato. At that time they lived in nine small villages
between Tauaquera and a point 1 hour above Piranhaquara. There was no village
in Volta Grande, but the Yuruna paid friendly visits in Souzel and knew a little
Tupi-Guarani.
Father Torquato reported their number as 2,000, which would
average 222 to each village possibly 200 would come nearer to the truth.
In 1859, the Government of the Province of Para initiated again the catechization
of the tribes above Volta Grande; however, the first attempt was a failure. At this
time the number of Yuruna, in three villages, was calculated at 235. This mission
was kept up until about 1880, with, it seems, little success. In a fairly detailed
;
Vol. 3]
TRIBES OF LOWER AND MIDDLE XINGU— NIMUENDAJU
219
report by President Carlos de Araujo Brusque (1863), apparently based on information given by the missionary, the total number of Yuruna in that year was 250.
When Von
den Steinen descended the Xingu in 1884, this mission was no longer
Two hundred and five Yuruna inhabited five villages between "Pedra
Preta" (lat. 4° 40' S.), above Piranhaquara, and lat. 8' 30' S., a little below Pedra
Seca. These Indians still maintained their independence, and their original culture
was almost intact. The civilized population had not yet reached the mouth of
in existence.
the Iriri.
When H. Coudreau
completely changed.
visited the
The
Xingu
in
1896, the situation of the tribe
150 Yuruna, except for a group which had fled a
was
little
beyond Carreira Comprida, had fallen into servitude to the rubber gatherers, whose
authority was extended to above the mouth of the Triumph River. Another small
group, led by Tuxaua Muratti, lived in Cachoeira Jurucua, in Volta Grande. The
two largest groups, working for Raymundo Marques in Pedra Preta and the
Gomes Brothers in Caxinguba (lat. 5" 20' S.) were composed, respectively, of 15 and
30 persons.
In 1910, a rubber-plantation owner crossed Carreira Comprida and settled a little
below Pedra Seca. The Yuruna refugees there came under his authority, tried to
flee upriver, but were pursued with firearms.
Later, impelled by poverty and by the
attacks of the Cayapo, part of them returned, but in 1916 they once more fled to
the upper Xingu never to return. They settled near the mouth of a tributary of the
left bank, a little above the Martins Falls, where they were still found in 1928 by
G. M. Dyott's expedition. They number about 30 Indians. Probably there are also
survivors in Volta Grande of Tuxiua Muratii's family,
THE SHIPAYA
Synonyms.
—Juaicipoia, Jacipoya, Jacipuyd, Javipuya, Acipoya, Achu-
paya, Achipaye, Axipai, Chipaya.
(shipa,
bamboo
Self-designation and
for the arrowheads, plus
In Arara: Chipdy.
of persons).
Kuruaya: Pardtvaivad (Yuruna).
-i,
Yuruna: Shipdy
suffix of the collective plural
In Cayapo: No-iren {Yuruna).
In
and linguistically, the Shipaya are the closest
Yuruna, being in many respects indistinguishable.
History, territory, and number. The Shipaya (lat. 5° S., long. 55" W.) were
first made known to civilization by the Jesuit priest, Roque Hundertpfund, who (in
1750?) went up the Xingu and the "River of the Junmas" (Iriri), on a preaching
Whereas the Yuruna
tour of the Curibary {Curuaya) and Jacipoya (Shipaya).
Physically, culturally,
relatives of the
—
had for more than two centuries maintained themselves on a constant defensive
against civilized people, the Shipaya had until after 1880 remained quietly in their
own region without contacts with the civilized world. Kletke (1857), Brusque, and
H. Coudreau mentioned them, but did not visit them. The first scientist to have
direct and lengthy contact with them was Emilia Snethlage, in 1909, and especially
in 1913.
In the latter year she set the total number of Shipaya at several hundred,
an estimate perhaps too high, since in 1918 only about 80 individuals were left.
Today there may be only about 30, scattered in Largo do Mutum and Pedra do
Cupim on the lower Iriri, and, mingled with a few remaining Curuaya, in Gorgulho
do Barbado, on the lower Curua, at about lat. 6° 30' S.
From remote times the Shipaya inhabited the islands of the Iriri River, from
the mouth of the Curua downstream.
They never settled farther up, for fear of
Cayapo attacks. Later, about 1885, the Cayap6 forced them to evacuate their
653333—47—17
SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS
220
settlements at the great falls of the
Iriri,
between
lat.
[B.A.E. Bull. 143
4° 50' and 5°
S.
and
to
take shelter in the Curua, settling in the Gorgulho do Barbado, which they only
temporarily abandoned in 1913, after a bloody encounter with the rubber tappers.
Since then they have always been divided into two local groups
and on the Curua.
:
on the lower
Iriri
THE ARUPAI
This tribe
as
is
only
known through information given by
became extinct before
it
other Indians,
direct contact with civilized people.
Prince
Adalbert von Preussen in 1843 heard of them as enemies of the Yuruna.
Brusque's report (1863) refers to them as Urupaya, and devotes a small
chapter to them, which
I
quote here, since
it is
the only literature on this
tribe.
This
is
a relatively numerous tribe, and although peaceable and relatively free
of bad habits,
extremely distrustful and suspicious in its relations with inIts habits and customs are the same as those of the
Tucunapeuas, with whom they have close bonds of friendship and trade. Since
it
is
dividuals of other nations.
Tucunapeuas from time to time meet the caravans which go up the Xingu
the
River in search of natural products,
it
is
they
who
from
obtain
these caravans
which they trade to the Urupayas in exchange for canoes, cotton thread,
hammocks and chickens. The Tucunapeuas, as intermediates in this trading, charge
their neighbors a higher price for the objects they sell them ^principally agricultural tools and beads highly prized for ornaments.
In general Indians as soon
as they come into contact with civilized man and learn the use of firearms, do
everything in their power to get hold of these. The Urupayas, however, although
acquainted with firearms through the Tucunapeuas, are so terrified by them, that
they will not go near an armed man. They preserve a tradition from generation
to generation about an ancient encounter with men who shot at them, causing
a great slaughter, and this has instilled in them a great horror for firearms.
They inhabit the most remote islands of the Xingu that anyone knows of. They
cultivate manioc, cotton, and urucu.
They are graceful, have beautiful bodies,
and a beautiful color, and they are clever and industrious. They obey a "tuxaua"
objects
—
(chief) called Juacua.
[Brusque, 1863.]
known
Since at that time the Xingu was already
at least as far as the
outh of the Fresco River, the Ariipai must have lived still farther up.
Approximately, lat. 7° S., long. 53° W.) Also Shipaya tradition places
A
.nem on the Xingu, just above the Yuruna.
Shipaya band, which
anciently migrated to the upper Xingu, fought with this tribe.
ing to another tradition, they received a few Shipaya
riendly
.le
^le
alto
Finally, during a feast, they
visit.
Yuruna.
The men were
women and
the sertao,
children were
who
Accord-
paid them a
were taken by surprise by
killed or captured to be eaten afterward;
made
Some escaped upstream,
again. The tribe no longer
prisoners.
and were never heard
of
when Von den Steinen descended the Xingii in 1884.
The name Arupai is derived from Shipaya "arupa" or "aguaye"
jxisted
(Eichhornia sp.) plus
"i," suffix of the
collective plural for persons.
Vol. 3]
TRIBES OF LOWER AND MIDDLE XINGU—NIMUENDAJU
22l
THE CURUAYA
Synonyms.
—Kuruaya,
and
Curiuaia,
Caravare, Curibary, Curuari, Curivere, Curu-
Curuahe, Curierai, Curuara, Curuaye, Curiuaye, Curueye,
bare, Curabare,
Curuaya.
Shipaya, Kiriwai
(kiri,
the collective plural).
Huiaunyan; Wiaunen,
History, territory,
Self-designation:
Dyirimdin-id
(?).
In
"parokeet," plus wa, "master," plus "i," suffix of
In Yuruna, Kiriwey (idem).
In Mundurucu,
linguistic variant.
and number.
—Between 1682 and 1685, the "Cara-
At that time a certain Gon^alves
Paes de Aran jo, who lived among the tribe, went up the Xingu with a
few Portuguese, some tame Indians, and Caravare. The party fell into
an ambush of Yuruna and Tacunyape, who killed one Portuguese, all of
vares" are mentioned for the
first
time.
tame Indians, and 30 Caravare. The latter, "showing an insuperable
courage and spirit rarely found among savages," managed to cover the
retreat of the Portuguese and to get them back safely to their own lands,
although Gonqalves Paes was severely wounded. Bettendorf says that the
"Curabares" spoke the Lingua Geral and had 20 villages in the sertao.
An attempt by Father Joao Maria Gersony to settle them down on the
Xingu (before 1688?) failed because of the influence of a Portuguese
named Manoel Paes (the same as Gonial ves Paes?), who employed them
in the extraction of cloves (Dicypellium caryophyllatum)
After Paes
had been killed by the Indians, the Curabare offered to go down by the
Tapajoz River. This seems to indicate that they were already at that
time established between the Xingu and the Tapajoz, although much
farther north than at the end of the 19th century.
(Lat. 7° S., long.
the
.
55°
W.)
Father Roque Hundertpfund (about 1750) went up the Iriri River on a 9-day
preaching tour to the Curibary (Curuaya) and Jacipoya (Shipaya). After a 9-day
journey upstream, the priest was still a long way from the mouth of the Curua
River, as it takes 18 days of rowing to get to the Curua from the Xingu.
This
proves again that the Curuaya formerly lived farther to the north.
They were
mentioned several times during the 19th century, but only through information
According to H. Coudreau, who had no
direct contact with them, the tribe in 1896 inhabited the forest on the left bank (?)
The traditions of the tribe, however, only mention excurof the Curua River.
sions to the west of the Curua, where they had bloody encounters with the Karuziad
given by the Yuruna and the Tacunyape.
(Mundurucii)
Brazilians of
.
The so-called, "Parintintin," who until
Jamaxim River, and who as late as
the
1883 attacked the Neo1895 went through
the
"seringaes" of the Crepory and Caderiry Rivers, were probably none other than
bands of
origin
Curuaya..
when
they
This would also explain their having objects of civilized
met the civilized people of the Iriri and Curua Rivers.
first
Beyond a doubt they themselves consider as their own territory the tributaries of
the right bank of the Curua River from lat. 6° 30' S. to 8° 50' S. (the bayous
Curuazinho, Bahu, and Flechas), where they were found in the 20th century.
When the Shipaya fled from the Cayapo in 1885, retreating to the Curua River,
they came into contact with them.
By the time E. Snethlage the only scientist
to visit them in their own territory
saw them in 1909 and 1913, they were al-
—
—
SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS
222
[B.A.E. Bull. 143
ready restricted to the Igarape da Flecha, and greatly influenced by the Shipaya.
In 1913, they had two "malocas" on the bank of the Flecha; a third maloca
away from
12 km.
the bayou, on the west side; and numbered about ISO.
In
numbered about 120 and inhabited, in small groups of one to four houses,
the tributaries of the left bank of the upper Igarape da Flecha, at lat. 8° 30' S.
About a dozen of them lived among the Shipaya on the lower Iriri, and scattered
among Neo-Brazilians. Up to this time the Cayapd had respected the Curuaya
territory, but from 1918 on they began to extend their incursions to the Curua
River, and in 1934 they attacked and scattered the Curuaya.
The largest group
of the Curuaya took the road from the mouth of the Riozinho do Iriri to the
Tapajoz other groups scattered along the middle Iriri. The remainder, except
for a few who stayed on the Iriri, live together with the last of the Shipaya
near "Gorgulho do Barbado" on the lower Curua.
In all, there are perhaps less
1919, they
;
than 30 of them.
THE TACUNYAPE
Synonyms. — Taconhape,
hape,
Taconhape,
Tacoyape, Taguanhape, Tacuanape, Tacun-
Tucunapeua, Peua.
Taconhapez,
From
the
Tupi,
pewa, "small and flat." In Yuruna, TacunIn Shipaya, Tacunyape. In Kuruaya, Eidum, "honey-eater" (eid).
takiinya, "penis," plus "pe,"
yape.
—
History, territory, and number. In the second half of the 17th century, the west
bank of the Xingu above Volta Grande was known as the "side of the Jurunas,"
and the Iriri as "River of the Jurunas," while the east bank was known as the
"side
of
the
Taconhapes."
(Lat.
4°
S.,
long.
53°
W.)
The "River
of
the
Taconhapes" was probably the present Pacaja, a tributary of the Xingu.
In 1662-63, the Jesuits first tried to catechize the Tacunyape, but three-fourths
of the Indians who had already descended the river returned to the sertao, because the agreement made with them had not been kept. In 1667, again a number
of Yuruna and Tacunyape were taken down to the Veiros mission, but these,
too, soon fled back to their own lands.
The third attempt was made, shortly afterward, it seems, by Father Pedro Poderoso. He traveled up the Xingu for 15 days,
and, having passed the painted stones (of Itamaraca Falls), he arrived at
the landing place and village of the Tacunyape, where he was well received. The
Indians who had already been taken downstream the first time refused to listen to
any arguments, but many of the others followed the priest. Having been illtreated by the captain-general of Gurupa, however, they returned to the sertao
and never turned up again. When, in 1682, Father Antonio da Silva went to the
"River of Taconhapes" in order to bring down the tribe of Aracaju, he made no
mention of the Tacunyape.
In 1685, they joined with the Yuruna in the attack against Gongalves Paes and his
Curuaya, as well as in the subsequent revolt. Father Samuel Fritz's map (1691)
places the Tacunyape on the right bank of the Xingu, below the "Pacaya River,"
under lat. 3° S. In 1692, Father Jose Maria Gersony once more succeeded in gathering together a large number of Indians of various tribes in Veiros, but, again,
Gurupa destroyed the project, transferring
Maturu (Porto de Moz) and other places.
century, the Jesuits succeeded in settling Yuruna and Tacunyape in
the intervention of the captain-general of
the Indians to
In the 18th
the
Tacuana (Tauaquera) mission, a
little
above present-day Altamira, and
1762 and 1784 the Tacunyape are mentioned as
among
in
the Indians settled at Portel.
That part of the tribe which succeeded in keeping its independence seems to
have retreated to the middle of the Curua region; that would also explain their
friendship with the Curuaya. Shipaya tradition says that the Tacunyape joined
TRIBES OF LOWER AND MIDDLE XINGU— NIMUENDAJU
Vol. 3]
223
having come from the upper Curua, and settled near them, on
below the mouth of the Rio Novo. Trouble with the CayapS
obliged them to return to their former settlement on the Xingu. There they were
defeated in 1842 by the Yuruna, losing 10 men. A year later Prince Adalbert found
their village, one day's journey above Tacuana, abandoned, and was unable to find
where the tribe had taken refuge. In 1859, the Tacunyape reappeared in large
numbers (500?), and the Government of Para decided to settle them in a new
mission, which was kept up for some 15 to 20 years.
In 1863, the fevers prevalent on the Xingu had reduced them to 150.
In 1884, Von den Steinen found 70
individuals, living on an island at lat. 3° 30' S., and the rest of the tribe in that
region became extinct within the next 15 years. In 1894, H. Coudreau still found
about 40, but that year the smallpox decimated them, and by the end of the century
the rest had succumbed to measles and catarrh.
In 1919, the writer became
acquainted with a single survivor, who, reared among the Shipaya, had never learned
the language of his tribe.
The Tacunyape became extinct without ever having been studied. We have
merely scattered references to them in the writings of missionaries and of trav-
them on the
an island a
Iriri,
little
who never stayed among them.
Character. The Tacunyape were considered the most tractable Indians of the
entire region.
They received the Jesuits courteously; the chiefs and people went
out to meet them and made them sit in beautiful hammocks. They were industrious, honest, and intelligent.
It is noteworthy that, while other tribes were continually at war one with another, the Tacunyape were permanently at peace with
the Curuaya, Shipaya, Arupai, and Arara.
elers
—
THE ARARA
Synonyms. —Apeiaca,
Apingui,
Apiacd,
Pariri.
Self-designation:
Opinadkom, Opinadkom (?). In Yuruna and Shipaya, Asipd ("prop"
or "support," on account of their tattooing design). In Curuaya, I-amitug
"their," plus ambi,
(i,
"upper
lip," plus tug,
"pierced").
In Cayapo,
Kube-nyde (kube, "Indian," plus nyoe, "woodpecker [?]").
History, territory, and number.
—
In 1853, there appeared for the first time on
lower Xingu an unknown wandering tribe which the Neo-Brazilians henceforth
called Arara, no one knows why.
Ehrenreich without further proof considered
them identical with their namesakes in the Madeira region, and even with the
Yuma, remnants of which tribe still inhabit the headwaters of the Parana-pixuna,
tributary of the right bank of the Puriis, at lat. 7° S.
The Yuruna informed me that these Indians formerly lived in a bayou, a tributary of the right bank of the Xingu, at the height of Carreira Comprida, perhaps
the present-day Igarape da Fortaleza (lat. 7° 30' S.). From there they had been
dislodged by the Cayapo. The latter, not the Suyd, are the "Autikas" to whom
the
the
Arara make reference.
Xingu descended below Volta Grande,
with rubber tappers for some time.
At that time they numbered 343, not counting children. In December 1862, they
made a surprise attack upon the crews of two canoes of Yuruna, their capital
enemies, killing two and wounding others.
A short time later they disappeared.
In 1884, Von den Steinen saw a captive of this tribe among the Yuruna of
the fifth village.
At this time the Arara lived in the lands to the west of the
Xingu, from the mouth of the Iriri down. The inhabitants of one Arara village,
In 1861 and 1862, these Arara of the
where
they
who had
were
in
peaceful
contact
lived for a short time with their friends, the
Tacunyape, had died
off.
SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS
224
[B.A.E. Bull. 143
In 1894, H. Coudreau, too, was unable to find the tribe. About this time the
Arara disappeared from the left bank of the Xingu, and gathered at the headwaters of the Curuatinga, main branch of the Curua River, which flows into the
Amazon above Santarem, where they were cruelly persecuted by rubber tappers.
Perhaps because of these persecutions, they began to work away from the left bank
of the lower Iriri. In 1897 they killed six rubber tappers in Nazareth, thereafter
disappearing from that bank for good.
In 1914 there was still a dwelling with
a small clearing of theirs at the headwaters of the Curuatinga.
The relations
between these Arara and the Shipaya were usually bad, with bloody fights and
kidnapping of each other's children.
A short time afterward the few surviving Arara moved upstream on the Iriri,
toward the lands on the left bank. In 1917 they vainly tried to make peace with
the rubber tappers a little above Sao Francisco.
In 1918 vestiges of these Arara
were seen on the west bank of the Curua do Iriri, at lat. 7° 30' S., after which
no more was heard of them.
Another band of Arara, which numbered about 30 in 1917, settled on the right
bank of the Pacaja do Xingu River, at lat. 3° 40' S. They worked for NeoBrazilians of the Pacaja River, who also used them in warring against the Asurini,
as happened twice about 1922.
There may possibly be some isolated survivor of
this group.
There probably is still a small group of Arara on the upper Anapii,
whose upper course approaches the Pacaja do Xingu.
Western Arara.— In 1869, the first bands of this tribe, numbering
about 500 persons, appeared peaceably on the western bank of the lower
Tocantins, lat. 3° S., and were followed by other smaller groups. They
seemed
to live to the west of the
Trocara Mountains.
"Authorities"
them as Miranya or Apiacd. In 1873, Bishop D. Macedo Costa
took some of them to the capital. In 1889, Ehrenreich observed some
of the survivors who were scattered through the settlements along the left
bank of the Tocantins, almost as far as Cameta. In 1896, Ignacio Moura
identified
mentions a Captain Peter of
this tribe,
with his family,
guide in
official
man H.
Coudreati saw the following- year,
prosecutions of hostile Indians.
who
He
is
who
served as a
probably the same
from 12 to 15
Breu Branco.
Coudreau calls these Indians Anembe, but the tattoo he describes and
the name of the chief make it seem probable that they were Arara. Today none are left.
In 1910 or 1911, another band of Arara Indians appeared under the
name Pariri. They were fleeing from the Paracana, a tribe probably of
Tupi speech living between the tributaries of the Tocantins and the
Pacaja de Portel, from Cachoeira Grande on upstream. The Pariri had
settled on the Iriuana, a tributary of the left bank of the Pacaja de Portel.
As the Paracana attacks did not let up, the rest of the tribe was o.bliged
to take refuge with the Neo-Brazilians of the region. In 1926 there were
still a half dozen of them
in 1932, there remained only a boy and a girl
individuals
in
the
Igarape
Ararinha,
a
lived with
little
below
;
in the last stages of tuberculosis.
There
is
probably
tributary of the
left
still
another band of Arara on the Pacajahy River,
bank
of the
upper Pacaja de Portel.
The
Pariri
TRIBES OF LOWER AND MIDDLE XINGU— NIMUENDAJU
Vol. 3]
225
called them Timirem or Cimirem (red).
In 1913 or a little earlier, they
came into brief contact with some rubber tappers, after which nothing
more was ever heard of them.
THE ASURINI
Synonyms.
Assurinikin.
—Asurini
(from the Yuruna,
In Yuruna, Surini.
asoneri, "red"), Assurini,
In Shipaya, Adyi kaporuri-ri (adyi,
"savage," plus kaporuri, "red," kaporuri-ri, "very red").
Nupdnu-pag (nupanu, "Indian," plus pag, "red").
(?).
plus
In Curuaya,
In Arara, Nerimd
In Cayapo, Kube-kamreg-ti (kube, "Indian," plus kamreg, "red,"
ti,
"augmentative").
—
Territory, history, and number. The Asurini appear for the first time
when they attacked a Neo-Brazilian at Praia Grande, above the mouth
in 1894,
of the
Pacaja do Xingu. In 1896 they twice attacked passing canoes in Passahy (lat.
3° 40' S.) and again at Praia Grande.
In that year an armed band of 30, among
them the Tacunyape chief, Ambrosio, pursued the attackers, but did not dare to
Not long after this event Ambrosio was killed and torn to
by the Asurini. By that time they were known to have settled between the
Xingu and its tributary, the Pacaja. Toward the south they reached the boundary
of Morro Grande (lat. 5° S.), with their principal village in the Igarape Ipixuna (lat.
4° 40' S.), 5 days above its mouth. From then till the present, the Asurini have
remained absolutely inacessible, almost annually attacking whatever rubber tappers
attack their village.
pieces
venture into their territory. By 1917 their attacks on the right bank of the Xingu
had almost completely ceased, but their hostilities against the civilized population
of the Pacaja had increased.
About 1922, the latter twice furnished the
Arara with arms and munitions for a war of extermination against the Asurini,
At least part of the Assurini remained at the headbut with doubtful success.
waters of the Branco River, tributary of the left bank of the Pacaja (lat. 4° S.,
more or less), and in 1932 they killed a Neo-Brazilian well beyond the former
limits of their territory, at the mouth of the Igarape de Bom Jarbim (lat. 5° 30' S.).
In 1936, the Gorotire-Cayapo, in their northward expansion, attacked and defeated the Asurini, as proved by the great number of Asurini arrows and ornaments in their possession when, a year later, they made peace with the NeoBrazilians.
Survivors probably still exist today between the Xingu and Pacaja
and preserve their hostile attitude. The truth of the matter is that until today
no one has tried to pacify them.
H. Coudreau learned that the Asurini were known as "Deer Indians" on the
Xingu were hostile.
However, nobody ever heard of a tribe of that name on the Tocantins not even
Coudreau himself, when surveying that river in 1897. The erroneously named
"Asurini" of the lower Tocantins are Paracana, who, since about 1926, have plagued
Neo-Brazilians on the left bank, between lat. 3° S. and 3° 40' S. Father VVilhelm
Schmidt's guess that they are a Carajd .yubtribe is inadmissible.
Tocantins, where they were peaceable, whereas those on the
—
CULTURE
SUBSISTENCE ACTIVITIES
In clearings along the river, the Yuruna and Shipaya raised manioc,
maize, potatoes, cara, bananas, sugarcane, cotton, pepper, tobacco, gourds.
SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS
226
From
[B.A.E. Bull. 143
made fermented flour toasted
According to Emilia Snethlage, the
Curuaya cultivated chiefly bananas, manioc, and other tubers in clearings
hidden in the forest far from their homes. When visiting the TacunyapS,
Father Pedro Poderoso was given roasted ears of maize, Brazil nuts, and
cakes of pounded maize which had been wrapped in leaves and cooked
under hot ashes. The Tacunyape cultivated manioc and cotton. The
Asurini also were farmers.
urucu, and genipa.
the manioc they
ovens set on three stones.
in clay
The Arara were
After their defeat and disbecame nomadic for some time, with unfavorable
material culture, which originally may well have
less clearly horticultural.
persal by the Cayapo, they
consequences to their
been of a higher type before contact with Neo-Brazilians.
Arara
first
When
the
appeared on the Tocantins River, turtles formed their only
medium
of exchange; Neo-Brazilians, therefore, deny that they had any
knowledge of farming. Perhaps some of the bands had really given up
planting altogether, but at the headwaters of the Curua do Norte was
found one of their farm clearings; moreover, they owned objects made
of cotton and, like their congeners both north
and south of the Amazon,
they had words for "maize," "tobacco," "potatoes," "manioc," and "beiju."
Hunting and gathering were more important to the Curuaya than to the
Shipaya but fishing was less important. The Curuaya fished with a drug
made from a liana. The Yuruna, though expert canoemen, did little fishing
and, dreading to go inland, did
little
hunting.
The Shipaya
say that 10- or
12-year old Tacunyape boys were expert hunters, never in danger of
becoming
lost in the forest.
Caimans and
turtles
were major foods
bryos, were an important food.
For the Yuruna,
when containing em-
of the Curuaya.
"tracajas" (a turtle species) and their eggs, even
Other foods included various wild roots
The Yuruna also collected
The Curuaya had great skill in
and Brazil nuts (Bertholletia excelsa).
the
"uauagu" nut {Orbignya speciosa).
ob-
taining wild honey.
The Yuruna and Shipaya cooked in pots set on three stones over the
They cooked fish without first cleaning it. Utensils included pots,
gourds, cylindrical wooden mortars, which sometimes had a separate conical base, a pestle with a head on each end, large canoe-shaped wooden
fire.
vessels,
and spatulate
regia) used as basins.
gourd which held manioc
bases
They
flour
of
"anaja"
palm
leaves
{Maximiliana
ate together, everyone sitting
and the pot
in
which
fish,
around the
hot with pepper,
had been cooked.
The only domesticated animals possessed by
and chickens.
In
Von den
the
Yuruna were dogs
Steinen's time, 1884, they were not yet in
the habit of eating either chickens or eggs.
kept a great number of wild fowls and animals.
In their huts the Yuruna
Vol. 3]
TRIBES OF LOWER AND MIDDLE XINGU— NIMUENDAJU
227
DWELLINGS AND VILLAGES
Constant fear of being attacked by the Cayapo and other hostile tribes
Yuruna
on the rocky
where they were safe from the Cayapo, who had no
skill in handling canoes.
In 1843, the largest Yuruna village consisted
of six dwellings.
In 1884, the seven different villages had eight, two,
seven, three, one, three, and two dwellings, respectively.
The Shipaya
had an even stronger tendency to isolate their dwellings and, although
houses were sometimes quite near one another, more than two were
never built in the same place. The Shipaya of the Curua River inhabited
the right bank, which up to 1918 had not yet been invaded by the Cayapo.
On the Iriri River their houses were mostly built on the rocky islands
among the rapids and only exceptionally on the solid ground of the left
bank, which was less exposed to Cayapo attacks than the right bank. The
Tacunyape seem originally to have been a forest- not a river-dwelling
people, but after their return from the Iriri to the Xingu River they, like
The
the Yuruna, Shipaya, and Arupai, began to live on the islands.
Curuaya of the 17th century were known as forest dwellers. In contrast
to the Yuruna and Shipaya, genuine boatmen who never strayed far from
the islands and banks of the Xingii and Iriri Rivers, the Curuaya avoided
the banks of the large rivers.
The central maloca visited by Emilia
Snethlage in 1913 consisted of five houses, grouped irregularly around an
forced the
islets of
to build their dwellings almost exclusively
the rapids,
open yard.
The
typical Asurini
without side walls
180 palmos,
i.e.,
;
house was a long, rectangular, tent-shaped structure
one found
at the
headwaters of the Branco River was
128 feet (39.4 m.) in length.
The Yuruna had two
principal types of dwellings.
One
type had a
rectangular or square gable roof, the rafters being set right on the ground
and curved toward the
top.
Details are lacking.
The
other type
was a
rec-
tangular hut, the roof of which came close to the ground, with ridge
pole and perpendicular walls.
the original type.
The
The
first
of these dwellings
was probably
roof was well-made with "uauagu" or "anaja" palm
by Von den Steinen measured 24 by
and 6 m. (20 ft.) in height; others were only 2 by
ft.).
Inside there was always a sort of loft, formed by
a scaffolding of poles, to store food supplies, weapons, and utensils. Sometimes this scaffolding hung from the roof.
Shipaya dwellings were similar to those of the Yuruna. In 1913,
Snethlage found the remains of a big, oval-shaped "maloca." The Tacunyape house Von den Steinen saw in 1884 was "in Yuruna style." The
original Curuaya house seems to have been elliptical, with a row of central posts and two lateral rows on either side, decreasing in height. There
seems not to have been any space between the walls and roof flexible
grass.
The
largest house visited
24 m. (78 by 78
4 m. (63^ by 13
ft.),
;
rafters covered
with straw gave the houses the look of "long hayricks
—
SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS
228
rounded
[B.A.E. Bull. 143
At each end was
at the top," in Snethlage's description.
a doot
closed with a rush mat.
Yurana, Shipaya, and Asurini household furniture consisted of benches
wood (fig. 25), with a circular or oval seat and
cut out of one piece of
two
forming
sides
Figure
legs,
Yuruna wooden
25.
mats woven of palm
(Drawn from
stool.
leaves, baskets with oval
specimens,
Museu Paraense Emilio
Goeldi, Belem.)
made
and cotton hammocks in which the Indians
The Arara north of the middle
Iriri River in 1917 made palm-fiber hammocks.
Ciiruaya dwellings were
not very clean, and all their utensils were dirty and carelessly made. Their
hammocks were small and made of palm fibers the technique used is not
known, but they were not woven. Their benches were crudely made
and painted. Prince Adalbert speaks highly of the order and cleanliness
lids
of "uauagu"
slept at night
and
sat
fiber,
during the day.
;
of
Yuruna
dwellings.
DRESS
When
AND ADORNMENT
Arara men and women were completely
still were naked,
but those of the river malocas dressed like the Shipaya, that is, men wore
a belt of glass beads and covered the prepuce with a straw sheath, while
women wore a woven loincloth. Yuruna and Shipaya women wrapped
lengths of woven gray cloth around their waists these were open on one
side and reached almost to their ankles.
Von den Steinen's prints show
some women also wearing a kind of cape with wide stripes, apparently
made the same way. Besides a belt, which seems originally to have been
of cotton, men wore only the truncate cone of dry "uauagu" fiber of the
Cayapo and Bororo type which covers the male organs. This was the
Yuruna style in 1884; 12 years later, their dress was more or less NeoBrazilian (Coudreau, H, 1897 c).
Tacunyape women in 1884 were
wearing aprons of material bought from civilized people.
Yuruna, Shipaya, and Curuaya men's hair hung loose almost to their
waist, except when women parted it for them, making a pigtail which
On their foreheads, where the
they tied with a gray twist of fibers.
hair-part started, there was a small circular red spot made with the pollen
naked.
still
entirely
free,
In 1913, the Curuaya of the central malocas
;
TRIBES OF LOWER AND MIDDLE XINGU—NIMUENDAJU
Vol. 3]
The Curuaya
229
wore bangs.
hang loose
behind or tying it in a loose knot. The Arara wore their hair, which
was brown and wavy, long behind women's braids often reached their
knees. The Asurini cut their hair ear-length. These tribes combed their
hair with small one-sided combs made from stems.
(Ravenala guianensis).
of sororoca
The women
often
also parted their hair in the middle, allowing
it
to
;
The Yuruna made beautiful headdresses of green feathers and diadems
macaw feathers covered with small black feathers at the
base.
The feathers were fastened between two bamboo hoops held together by an elastic net about an inch wide. The Shipaya and Curuaya
made men's diadems of cotton ribbons with feathers, sometimes fastened
of parrot and
to straw
hoops; those of braided straw in the shape of a hat brim with
were used by both sexes. The Gorotire-Cayapo,
a Ge
1) were found to have feather ornaments
Asurini:
beautiful
from
the
diadems made of various overlapping
taken
tiers of feathers mounted on cotton ribbons.
a
tail
of feathers or straw
(Handbook,
tribe
vol.
Yuruna men wore cotton bands 2 to 2}^ inches (5 to 6 cm.) wide
their upper arms and ankles these were crocheted on by women.
At festivals, the anklets were often of beads. Narrower bands were also
worn by men just below the knees. Boys and men wore a very tight
beaded belt, preferably blue, from 4 to 6 inches (10 to 16 cm.) wide. Both
sexes from early childhood wore strings of heavy beads around their
necks and bandoleer-style, crossing in front and behind. Necklaces were
made of worked peccary teeth. The Shipaya and Curuaya made similar
bead ornaments, but showed more artistry in embroidering armbands and
forehead bands with beads. In 1913, the Curuaya, owing to their relative isolation, still wore more seed and nut than bead necklaces.
Arara ornaments in the museum at Para include: A diadem of parrot
around
;
and japu feathers, the base
of
which
is
covered with small feathers; a
braided cotton forehead band with small red feathers ending in two
long strings
bands
;
;
necklaces of black seeds and bones
a pair of bracelets of armadillo
tail
;
;
a pair of cotton
arm
and a necklace of armadillo
claws.
The Yuruna and Tacunyape anointed their bodies with a vegetable oil
They kept the oil in small round
gourds decorated with painted or engraved maze designs. Asurini warriors stain their bodies with urucu, whence their tribal name.
The
for protection against mosquitoes.
Yuruna, Arara, Pariri, and Shipaya, but not the Curuaya, tattooed
the face.
Until 1843 one could observe the characteristic
Yuruna
tattoo-
Both men
and women made a black, vertical line down the middle of the face, from
the roots of the hair to the chin, and running around the mouth.
This
tattooing was made by incising with animal teeth and rubbing in genipa
stain, the person's social importance being indicated by the width of the
ing to which this tribe
owed
its
name
in the
Lingua Geral.
;
SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS
230
[B.A.B. Bull. 143
According to Andre de Barros, the chiefs' faces were all black
Mello Moraes says that the "most distinguished" persons generally had
three stripes, the lateral ones being narrower. The width of the middle
Stripe.
stripe is given as
The
from
1^
to
2^
inches (3.8 to 7 cm.) by various authors.
was usually done in childhood. The Shipaya had ceased to
permanent contact with Neo-Brazilians. The Arara tattooed
at puberty with genipa, making two vertical lines from the eye down to the
curve of the lower jaw. The Pariri tattooed with charcoal of rubber.
Yuruna men and Shipaya and Curuaya men and women pierced their
ear lobes. Ordinarily, they wore nothing in their ears but for festivals
they inserted a long red macaw tail feather, with small feathers hanging
from its point and surrounding the base. These feathers were kept in
tattooing
tattoo before
tubes trimmed with small
in the
lower
feathers.
The Arara pierced the
Curuaya women wore a stone tembeta
"mutum"
nasal septum as well as the earlobe.
lip.
TRANSPORTATION
The Yuruna and Shipaya "uba" canoes are well adapted to the rough
They are made of hewn cedar logs, usually hollowed
out by means of fire. The cross section is U-shaped, and there is a sort of
rectangular platform at bow and stern. Von den Steinen gives the following dimensions of a Yuruna canoe: Length, 30 feet (10.6 m.) maximum
water of the rapids.
;
width, 3 feet (95 cm.)
mm.)
;
;
depth, 1^4 feet (39 cm.)
platform at the bow,
44 cm.) platform
the measurements
;
1
foot 10 inches by
thickness,
;
1
by
at the stern, 3^4 by 3 feet (1 by 0.9 m.). (Steinen got
of the platforms reversed )
These canoes can easily
.
!
carry 10 people without baggage.
mats from the middle
They
The handle
awning
usually have an
to the rear, fastened to
The
arched poles.
punted by means of poles and steered by a paddle about
long.
inch (25
1
foot 5 inches (57
of the paddle, which ends in a
4^
of rush
boats are
feet (1.45
m.)
somewhat convex cross
measures 2 feet (62 cm.) the blade widens toward the blunt end, and
sometimes bears the painted maze design.
It seems established that the Arara had no form of canoe when first met.
They lived on and roamed over dry land, only exceptionally appearing on
bar,
;
the banks of the great rivers.
The Asurini
Curuaya, living in the heart of the forests, paid
also lacked canoes.
little
Their original canoe was made of jutahy bark.
The
attention to boating.
Later, they
made
this
type only in emergency and constructed crude imitations of the Shipaya
masterpieces.
Among
devices for land transportation, the
Arara carrying bag
of interlaced cords
Museum
at
Para has an
made of palm fibers.
MANUFACTURES
Weaving.
— Since the
Jesuit period,
Yuruna women have been famous
They wove hammocks
for their skill in spinning cotton "as fine as hair."
Vol. 3]
TRIBES OF LOWER AND MIDDLE XINGU—NIMUENDA.TU
231
on bamboo frames, measuring 6}^ by 9}i feet (2 by 3 m.). Two threads
little piece of wood were passed horizontally through the
vertical threads of the warp the weaving technique is not clearly described
guided by a
;
but the product was unquestionably cloth.
In order to tighten or separate
the horizontal threads, they used a small toothed
— Yuruna pottery was simple
Pottery.
(fig.
wooden instrument.
26, b, d), without painted
or plastic decorations, except for the occasional addition of two small
excrescences on diametrically opposite sides of the vessel edge.
principal form, used to hold water
is
Shipaya ceramics are coarser than those of
with a short neck.
Figure
and fermented drinks,
The
round jar
the Yuruna.
a
— Pottery
from the lower Xingii. a, Arara; h, d, Yuruna; c, Curuaya.
(Drawn from specimens, Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi,
Belem, and Nimuendaju and Snethlage collections.)
26.
(All 2/9 actual size.)
Huge
vessels
2^
feet
(69 cm.) in diameter and equally high are used for
Exceptional pots were painted inside and outside.
fermented drinks.
Curuaya pots resemble those of neighboring tribes, but the ware is inferior
and vessels are small and plain.
The characteristic form is a small,
globular jar
(fig.
26, c), apparently
made
in imitation of the capsule of the
Arara pottery is very crude (fig. 26, a).
Miscellaneous. The Shipaya made "half -gourds" (cuias) from the
cuiete and Lagenaria.
These are painted black inside and outside and
sometimes have maze designs. The decorations are sometimes incised on
Brazil-nut tree.
—
the shell of the green fruit.
Other containers include an Arara vessel for dye made of the dorsal
carapace of a turtle and a rectangular palm-straw basket with a lid and
upright sides.
—
SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS
232
The Yuruna made
soaked in
candles of
wooden
little
sticks
[B.A.E. Bull. 143
wrapped
in cotton
and
oil.
Weapons.
—The principal weapon was the bow and arrow.
was known only
to the
Shipaya and
to the
Asurini
(fig.
means
attached a short cylindrical club to the wrist by
27, c)
.
The club
The Shipaya
A club of
of a loop.
k
1^'
b
c
^
'U
Figure 27. Asurini weapons, a, Bow; b, hafted stone ax; c, wooden club, {.ui-dwu
from specimens, Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi, Belem, and Estevao collection.)
the Asurini in the Para
Museum
is
2^
feet (85
cm.) long, the handle
covered with fibers of two colors interwoven with
rounded and
flattened, the blade 3 inches (8.5
cm.) thick, and both edges
The
cut.
The cudgels found
a machete.
blade
is
little
skill,
cm.) wide by
the end
inch (2.5
1
slightly curved, almost like
in the possession of the
Yuruna were
apparently of Cayapo origin.
The Yuruna bow was
6^
feet (2
and Shipaya bows were
feet (1.3
of black
wood, rectangular
in cross section, over
m.) long, and notched at the ends to hold the cord.
similar.
m.) long with a flattened
(4 cm.) wide.
Asurini bows
Para are made
of
Ctiruaya
The Arara made powerful bows
elliptical
(fig. 27,
cross section about
1^
4]/^
inches
a) in the C. Estevao Collection in
paxiuba palm, SYz to Sy^ feet (1.62 to 1.67 m.) long.
They are distinguishable from all other South American bows by their
exaggerated width,
2^
to 3 inches (6 to 7 cm.)
;
the
maximum
thickness
Yi inch (1 cm.). The ends are notched to hold the cord, one end of
which has a ring to slip over the lower tip of the bow. The upper half or
is
third of the
bow
is
almost always
threads, while the lower part
is
wound with dark and white
cotton
sometimes covered with hawk down glued
on.
Yuruna, Curuaya, and Shipaya arrows are made of camayuva {Guadua
and have bridged feathering. The Asurini and Arara used sewed
sp.)
feathering.
bone.
The most common
point
is
a lanceolate blade of bamboo or
Asurini arrows in the C. Estevao collection range from 4 feet
1
Vol. 3]
TRIBES OF LOWER AND MIDDLE XINGU—NIMUENDAJU
inch to 5 feet
1
inch (125 to 157 cm.) in length.
bamboo,
the heads are: (a) of
1
The
foot (32 cm.) long
wide; (&) of bone, 6 inches (15 cm.) long by
^
233
shaft is of camayuva;
by 1^^ inches (4 cm.)
inch (1.6 cm.) wide, with
a lateral barb; (c) of wood, imitating (a) and (&), or of square or
angular cross section
is
sewed.
up
The
;
The
(d) with four sharp wooden points.
feathers, usually a
The
to l}i feet (40 cm.).
hawk and
a
macaw
tri-
feathering
feather, are very long,
point where they are tied on
is
sometimes
decorated with four overlapping rows of short feathers, glued on, three
rows of yellow feathers, one row of red. The shaft of the arrow, in the
is sometimes covered with an interweaving of
space between the vanes,
very fine black and white fibers or cotton threads of two colors with an
Some arrows have a "tucuma" nut inserted at
where the head is fastened into the shaft. This nut makes no
sound and apparently serves only to keep the arrow from penetrating too
far.
The Shipaya used a fish arrow having a long cylindrical point of
paxiuba palm wood and an incendiary war arrow with a piece of jutahy
equally ornamental effect.
the point
resin in the
slit
end.
The Arara used
An
a lance with a long
Arara ax which
I
bamboo
point.
observed in 1917 north of the middle
Iriri
River
The head was held
wooden handle by means of wax and
Asurini ax in the Para museum has the head
had a stone head, with only the cutting edge polished.
in a cavity in the thickest part of a
string lashing.
fitted
(fig.
A
similar
so nicely into the cavity that an adhesive and lashing are unnecessary
27, b).
The Arara made a chisel
who had
enjoyed much
a haf ted agouti tooth.
AND POLITICAL ORGANIZATION
SOCIAL
In 1913, the Curuaya
of
had a
still
village chief, although
an
intelligent in-
terpreter
a monopoly on their communication with Neo-Brazil-
ians
greater prestige. Emilia Snethlage believes that chief-
tainship originally passed
becoming rubber
from father
collectors
;
to son.
By
1913, the
by 1919, they were mere
Curuaya were
Neo-
serfs of a
Brazilian boss.
A certain solidarity united the Shipaya as against other tribes, but there
was no tribal organization. From the beginning of the 20th century they
seem no longer to have had chiefs (i-ama; i, reverential prefix) and nothing is known of their ancient functions. On war expeditions an experienced man was chosen ad hoc to take command.
The Yuruna were
families
divided into villages, each composed of a
(patrilineal?).
A
comparison of
Von
number
of
den Steinen's and H.
Coudreau's data indicates that these families or communal households
were probably relatively
stable.
Chieftaincy descended from father to
son the war leader, however, was not the village chief but a medicine man.
;
234
SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS
Until shortly before
Von den
[B.A.E. Bull. 143
Steinen's expedition there seems to have
who lived at Piranhaquara.
Among the Shipaya, monogamy is the rule; bigamy a rare exception.
Divorce is uncommon. The couples usually live in perfect harmony and
Both men and women participate in
treat each other on equal terms.
been a supreme chief of the
tribe,
Children are treated with an almost exaggerated
religious ceremonies.
tenderness, and are rarely given
away
considered a sin that provokes the anger of
pressly forbade
it.
Infanticide
to civilized people.
Formerly, there existed a relationship of solidarity very
formally entered into by two individuals, maitumas, of their
The
was sealed
alliance
Kumapari's
converse
at the time of the zetabia
each
other
Among
a
tribe,
they were
to quarrel, should
and should help each other
As long as the Shipaya kept their
lives.
known
for their honesty.
the Yuruna, polygyny (of the chiefs?)
having up to three wives.
free will.
in front of
respectfully,
during the remainder of their
identity as
own
ceremony
The two maitumas were never
statue.
with
is
the god Kumapari, who ex-
was
practiced, a
man
Since the 17th century, the Yuruna have been
proverbially jealous of their wives; the uprising of 1666
noted the harmony prevailing between spouses.
was due
Von den
a.buses of the chief of the expedition in this respect.
Parental love
to the
Steinen
proved
is
by the breaking of relations with the mission when the missionary sent
some children as hostages to Belem. One day Von den Steinen's expedi-
and camp long before the scheduled hour in order to
prepare the food for the Yuruna guide's little daughter, who was feeling
hungry. Naughty children were not beaten, but their parents treated them
Von den
with ostentatious contempt until they mended their ways.
tion
had
to stop
Steinen observed that on a canoe trip a father left his disobedient little
daughter at the edge of the river, forcing her for a while to follow the
canoe on foot with great
The
difficulty.
Yuruna as brave and
The women spun and toasted
old reports describe the
sexes as hard workers.
drinking sprees.
indolent,
and
Brusque's record
thievish.
Von den
warlike,
(1863), however,
flour
and both
even during
calls
them
lazy,
Steinen found them affable, given to
and willing to help with the work. He observed
the weeping salutation which lasted about a minute and did not provoke
laughter, not thievish,
tears.
When
subsequently talking to the host, the visitor stood beside
him without looking at him, but staring
announced their arrival by blowing a horn.
Among
the Curuaya,
monogamy was
straight into space.
parently patrilineal.
was rare, accordpoverty and the lack of
the rule ; bigamy
ing to Emilia Snethlage, chiefly because of
women, although polygyny was
Visitors
the theoretical ideal.
There were indications
Families are ap-
of the couvade.
Vol. 3]
TRIBES OF LOWER AND MIDDLE XINGU— NIMUENDAJU
235
WARFARE
There are no reports
were
though the Shipaya and Arara
remained at peace with the Tacunyape. In the 17th century, the Curuaya
are mentioned as enemies of the Yurima and Tacunyape ; in 1843, as
enemies of the Yiiruna, Shipaya, and Piapdy. The Asurini and Tacunyape were at war recently. The implacable enemy of all these tribes
of intratribal conflict, but all these peoples
war with
intermittently at
their neighbors,
was the Northern Cayapo, who, during the 18th century, made the
Yuruna seek shelter in the rocky islands of the rivers and cut off all communications between the Yuruna and the tribes of the upper Xingu
River until the beginning of the 20th century.
how
We
have already seen
Curuaya succumbed to the Cayapo in 1934. The Shipaya had
also been constantly menaced by the Cayapo and earlier by the Mundurucu and the now extinct Piapdy. The Shipaya had been alternately at
peace and at war with the Yuruna, Arupai, Curuaya, and Arara but
finally effected an alliance with the Yuruna and Curuaya, and, despite
occasional flare-ups, intermarried and lived together with them. When
the
peace with the Yuruna, Shipaya groups sometimes settled among
them on the Xingii. Von den Steinen's vocabulary of the language of
the "upper" Yuruna is almost pure Shipaya, and Coudreau's map shows
an old Shipaya maloca near that of the Yuruna of Jurucua Falls at Volta
at
Grande.
The Tacunyape were never
on the
Iriri,
and a Tacunyape raid against
strange episode
mortally
his
is
told about this expedition
wounded by an arrow, requested
body
The Cayapo,
when they lived
at peace with the Cayapo.
while pursuing the Shipaya, attacked them at the time
;
their assailants failed.
A
the chief of the Tacunyape,
that one of his warriors divide
have to carry only
at the waistline with a big knife, so as to
the upper part of his body in the retreat to their village, leaving the nether
part
on the
battlefield.
Cannibalism.
— Since the 17th century, the Yuruna have been accused
known
of cannibalism, and the 18th-century Shipaya were
The other
tribes did not eat
human
as cannibals.
flesh.
Father Joao Daniel, whose tendency to exaggerate makes him an untrustworthy witness, states that the Yuruna kept
for seasoning their food.
He
people in order to prepare provisions for a
some
is
stories told
human
trip.
The
less
writer also doubts
by the Shipaya about such customs of the Yuruna.
probable, however, that cannibalism really existed
more or
fat in kettles
also cites cases of these Indians killing
among
It
the Yuruna,
under the same conditions as among the Shipaya.
Father Joao Daniel (around 1750) called the Shipaya "warlike, cruel,
and cannibalistic as these Yuruna," and doubtless before closer contact
with Neo-Brazilians (around 1885), they were cannibals. Their last vie653333—47— 18
SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS
236
[B.A.E. Bull. 143
tims may have been the Cayapo during the conflicts which resulted in the
abandonment of the tribal dwellings on the middle Iriri. (See above.)
Except for a few cases where vengeance was the motive, cannibalism always took the form of a sort of communion with their national god, Kuma-
now
pari,
pensity.
transformed into the jaguar with an avowed man-eating prohis medicine man, he used to manifest his desire to eat
Through
the flesh of the Shipaya^s enemy.
The
an expedition
tribe then organized
against one of the hostile tribes, the
main purpose being to take one of its
members alive. The prisoner was taken to the maloca, where he was very
well treated. Beverages were prepared, and after the guests had arrived,
the prisoner was killed by arrows in the yard, then scalded, quartered,
and the pieces cooked or roasted on a rustic grill (moquem). A large pot
full of human flesh and drink was then covered with rush mats and placed
near the caves for Kumapari. Of those attending the feast "whoever
wished" also ate of the enemy's meat. The killer was not subject to the
purification prescribed for nonritual killing.
War
trophies.
—Trophy taking was more common than cannibalism.
The Yuruna kept
the skulls of their slain enemies.
In the uprising of
1686, "they carried as a standard the head of a certain Sergeant Antonio
Rodrigues,
whom
they had killed."
resonators for their
and used the
Sometimes these
war trumpets. They made
skulls served as
flutes of the
teeth to decorate their ear lobes.
enemies' bones
The Shipaya
decapitated
from the skull, fastened the maxillary
on with wax, and filled the orbits with wax, placing small bone disks in
their centers. The killer hung the trophy in a basket from the ridge pole
of his dwelling. He extracted the teeth and made them into necklaces for
himself and wife or used them to decorate earplugs. The Arara took the
a slain foe, carefully picked the flesh
following trophies
:
The
scalp (fig. 28, c), including the ears, stretched in
a hoop; the skin of the face
(fig. 28,
b), similarly stretched
and trimmed
with tassels of beads, with a loop of beads for hanging; the skull
28, a)
,
cleaned and decorated with two
macaw
tail
the zygomata and with cotton fluff; and the teeth
(fig.
28, d).
of their
told
me
It is reported that
dead enemies. The
(fig.
feathers inserted behind
made
into necklaces
they stripped off the entire skin of one
Cumaya
took trophy heads.
In 1919, they
had carefully preserved the skulls of the Shipaya killed
conflict with them, and that until recently they had danced
that they
in their last
with them.
ESTHETIC AND RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES
—
Drinking festivals. The Yuruna attached great importance to a drink,
made from manioc, fermentation of which was produced by
women chewing part of the mass. Sometimes bananas were added. It was
allowed to ferment in a canoe set up in the festival house and covered
malicha,
with banana leaves.
Drinking parties often lasted for days.
During such
Vol. 3]
TRIBES OF LOWER AND MIDDLE XINGU— NIMUENDAJU
237
J.flnqlc'n
Figure 28.—Arara trophies, a, Skull, ornamented; b, skin of human face with open
mouth; c, human scalp; d, human-tooth necklace. (Drawn from specimens, Museu
Paraense Emilio Goeldi, Belem.)
—
SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS
238
Von den
an occasion,
Steinen saw a gaudily adorned personage
ternately played the pari-tadada
The Yuruna
others.
and
[B.A.E. Bull. 143
are not quarrelsome
talk to themselves, walking
who
al-
and sang, and also served drinks to the
when they
drink; they sing
up and down, and pay no attention
to
one
another.
From
were considered heavy drinkers.
enormous quantities of fermented
drink were never lacking. The Shipaya never became belligerently drunk,
but behaved like the Yuruna. After contact with Neo-Brazilians, however, they became sadly addicted to rum. The Curuaya were also pas-
At any
early times, the Shipaya too
celebration, even a religious one,
sionately fond of fermented drinks.
The Yuruna smoked tobacco
in cigarettes rolled in the thin skin of the
tauri (Couratari sp.).
Musical instruments.
Curuaya musical instruments include small
panpipes, bone flutes, and two kinds of the "tore" clarinet.
Yuruna musical instruments were: The gourd
a plume of
macaw
rattle
(maraca), with
feathers at the tip; a signaling horn
tail
made
of a
gourd a horn of thick bamboo with lateral opening for blowing and with
loops and tassels of feathers the same with sounding box made of a gourd
or a human skull small panpipes a bone flute Von den Steinen's "bassoon," perhaps corresponding to the Shipaya "takari" (Karl G. Iziko;
;
;
;
witz's "tore clarinet")
;
;
a great wooden trumpet (pari-tadada) used at
drinking sprees with lateral opening for blowing and a bamboo reed
from
5.7 to 6.1 feet (175 to 187 cm.) in length.
Shipaya dancing and music were always linked. Some dances imitated
certain animals in pantomime.
and down
During their sprees, they would walk up
and playing the flute with an unearthly
in pairs or alone, singing
din.
Besides the large flutes for the "zetabia" ceremony and the whistles
for the dance of souls, the Shipaya
Yariina
:
had the same instruments as the
a bone flute, panpipes, a signal horn, a large conical
wooden
trumpet, painted with the maze design (pari-tadada), a small four-holed
and the "takari." This last requires four players, for it has a scale
and each player has only one note to play. The melody
results from each player's playing his note as required. The quartette
forms a circle, each person holding the "takari" with his right hand, and
placing his left on his neighbor's shoulder. While playing, they slowly
move round and round.
flute,
of four notes
The gourd
rattle, identical
with the Yuruna form,
is
also used only
by
the medicine man.
—
The Yaruna and Shipaya (fig. 29) used the maze design on
engraved gourds, but the former did not paint it on their bodies with
genipa, generally limiting themselves to stripes on their forearms and legs.
Art.
their
Vol. 3]
TRIBES OF LOWER AND MIDDLE XINGU—NIMUENDAJU
239
body decoration was much inferior to that of the
Yuruna artists were generally women. There are numberless
of the maze motif with which they cover objects and especially
SO that, artistically,
Shipaya.
variations
the body.
Frequently, these body designs, used on festive occasions,
are so fine and intricate that they can only be seen at close range. Besides
maze motif, there are also curvilinear patterns.
The most important Shipaya sculptural products, statues of mythological
personages, do not show great development in this type of work. Little
figures of armadillos and other animals are carved from a palm
nut
(Bactris sp.) and made into necklaces. Wooden spoons sometimes
appear
the
in artistic
and
original forms, the handle ending in the
ri[min
[\
form of a clenched
\r
u
IT
Zl
U^^^i-
l^^^rL-
J fln^l'ni
Figure 29.—Shipaya painted decorations. (Drawn from sketch by Curt Nimuendaju.)
SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS
240
fist,
[B.A.E. Bull. 143
In 1896, H. Coudreau found in an abandoned Shipaya tribal
etc.
house a number of small carved, wooden figures representing animals, a
canoe, and other objects. These were well done. (See figs. 30, a, d, j;
31, for similar
Yuruna specimens.).
J.Arv<ilin-\
— Lower Xingu wood
Yurima carved
Yuruna and Arara wood and cord combs; e, Yuruna carding comb.
(Drawn from specimens, Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi, Belem.)
Figure
toys
30.
(
?)
;
h, c,
carvings and manufactures,
a, d, f,
—
Vol. 3]
TRIBES OF LOWER AND MIDDLE XINGU— NIMUENDAJU
241
%
a
Figure
31.
b
Yuruna carved wooden toys (?). (Drawn from specimens, Museu
Paraense Emilio Goeldi, Belem.)
RELIGION
The
AND SHAMANISM
the god Kumapari, son of
Kunyarima,
another god of the same name, and father of
whose uterine
brother was Arubiata.
Kumapari stole fire from the tapir hawk and
created man from arrow-reeds, making the Shipaya first of all, whence his
title
principal figure in Shipaya religion
of Sekarika
is
(Our Creator). The brothers carry out a
series of diffi-
by order of Kumapari, who in these episodes bears the title
Marusawa (Tupi: morubisawa, "chief?"). In these adventures Kun-
cult tasks,
yarima gives proof of intelligence and courage, while Arubiata
tries in
vain to imitate him, always failing and saved only through his brother's
Kumapari, angry with all men, goes away down the Xingu,
end of the world, sky and earth meet. At first
of human shape, he now has the form of an old jaguar.
He has turned
into the god of war and cannibalism, and is the object of a real cult. Consecrated to Kumapari were: medicine men to whom he would directly
manifest himself their helpers and the god's wives, who never married
men and had certain religious duties.
Sometimes Kumapari or the two brothers ordered statues (upasi) to
be made: cylindrical posts with human heads carved and painted on
them by the demon's wives. A ceremony (zetabia) would take place in
front of the statues with two large flutes of thick bamboo, held by these
women.
Among the many other gods or spirits of the earth and sky, the most
important are the terrible Apu-sipaya (Jaguar of Heaven), the aquatic
demon, Pai, and the Great Snake, Tobi, from whose ashes sprang all
cultivated plants. Respect for these spirits, the help they can give men,
and fear of their anger and malevolence constitute, together with magic
and the worship of souls, Shipaya supernaturalism.
The soul is composed of two parts: the awa, which after death turns
into a specter that frightens but does not kill people and the isawi, which
intervention.
to the north, where, at the
;
;
;
SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS
242
inhabits certain large rocks or hills inside
that of the living.
which
it
[B.A.E. Bull. 143
lives
a
Jointly, all the isawi are called i-anai
prefix, plus ana, plus
life
(i,
similar to
reverential
suffix of the collective plural).
i,
From
time to time, the i-anai again desire to be among the living and
advise the medicine man, who then orders an i-anai karia (feast of the
The ceremonies only take place at night and last 8
One by one, the souls enter the medicine man in order
dance and drink with the living. The medicine man appears from
souls of the dead).
or
to
more
nights.
the interior of a dark house bringing the jugs of fermented drink, which
are wrapped
up
heavy coarse cotton, woven
These threads are covered with cotton-
closely in a rectangular cape of
in the "double thread" technique.
wool, so that the cape resembles a sheep's fleece.
The cape
is
fastened
hoop worn on the head, and from which hang thick black fringes
hiding the wearer's face. A wreath of parrot feathers decorates the head,
and the bottom of the cape is bordered with wing and tail feathers of
the mutum, which touch the ground. The wearer is completely covered,
suggesting a white pillar. The soul is summoned with shouts and the
music of two flutes, a single and a double one, fastened together with a
thread. It then enters the circle formed by women and men, who welcome
to a
it
with laughter.
In a nasal voice, the soul sings a short verse several
times, following the circular dance of the others, then disappears into
the house, yielding
its
place to another soul.
This ceremony ends with
Throughout the celebration the participants refrain
from sexual intercourse. The souls of those recently dead never appear
on such occasions. The festival ends with the medicine man's ceremonially
restoring to each participant his isawi, of which the souls had deprived
him, for its loss would spell death.
a great drinking orgy.
The medicine man
is,
above
all,
the intermediary between the laity and
the gods, the spirits, and the souls of the dead.
The
prerequisite for the
a tendency toward dreams and visions, a good teacher
subsequently instructing the tyro how to develop and use his gift.
profession
is
Magic, that
is,
the art of curing and of causing illness, as well as of
securing special advantages,
is
a secular science.
It is in
no way con-
nected with the spirits and the souls of the dead, although exercised by
who heals by sucking and massaging, removing harmfrom the patient's body, and transferring them to a green
branch (compare Yuruna) he also blows tobacco smoke over the patient.
the medicine man,
ful influences
;
The Yuruna
whom some
believed in the
in the culture hero
Von den
god the Shipaya
call
"Kumapari," with
men had direct communication, and also
Kunyarima. One of their ceremonies, observed by
of their medicine
Steinen,
is
in every detail identical with the
Souls (i-anai Karia).
The
souls,
like those of the
Shipaya Dance of
Shipaya, lived in
from high water, such as Pedra Preta, Pedra de
Caxinguba, and Pedra Seca, to which due reverence was given. What
certain large rocks, safe
Vol. 3]
TRIBES OF LOWER AND MIDDLE XINGU— NIMUENDAJU
243
Kletke says about a benevolent diety and a malevolent deity seems not
trustworthy.
The medicine man cured by
violent massaging, forcing the pathogenic
substances from the body into green branches, which were then carefully
Meanwhile, the patient remained lying in his hammock.
feast, E. Snethlage saw two posts carved with human
faces similar to the Shipaya statues. It is not known whom they represented.
The medicine man's hammock was hung between these posts,
and behind them was the canoe with the fermented drink. In the Curuaya
mythology there are two pairs of brothers, Witontim and Aizau, whose
taken outdoors.
At a Curuaya
parents are called Karu-pia and Imiriwon, and Kabi-sau (kabi, "sky")
and Zaizu-sau (zaizu, "armadillo"). The significance of the so-called
"karuara" (in the Lingua Geral), cotton tufts hanging from the ceiling
in small vases or baskets, is not certain.
Emilia Snethlage says that they
contained pathogenic substances the medicine man, an important person
in the village, extracted from the body of patients.
In his house there
was a room walled with bark and closed to visitors, in which he effected
his cures.
Snethlage assumes an astral cult, a supposition the writer was
unable to confirm.
Nothing is known concerning animism or burial practices.
The Shipaya say that the Tacunyape celebrated the dance of souls. The
cape worn for the dance was of palm fiber, closed all around, with an
opening for the head. The souls of the dead came from the forest to
participate in the drinking, but did not sing or dance with the living.
Shipaya and Yuruna dead were interred inside the house, the hammocks
hung near the burial. Later, the bones were
of the closest relatives being
removed, cleaned, and put away in a basket, which was hung under the
ridge pole.
The
The
women
closest
writer does not
know what was
finally
relatives cut their hair as a sign of
done with them.
mourning.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Adalbert von Preussen, 1849, 1857; Adam, 1896; Bettendorf, 1910; Brusque, 1863;
Coudreau, H., 1897 c; Daniel, 1841; Ehrenreich, 1891 a, 1895, 1897 a; Fritz, 1922;
Heriarte, 1874; Kletke, 1857; Krause, 1936 b; Laet 1899; Macedo Costa, 1875; Maciel
Parente, 1874; Martius, 1867;
1910;
Nimuendaju,
1914
b,
Meyer
1921-22,
(see Krause, 1936 b)
1923-24,
1929
b,
;
Moraes, 1860; Moura,
1930
a,
1932
a,
1932
b,
mss.; Snethlage, 1913, 1920-21; Snethlage and Koch-Griinberg, 1910; Steinen, 1886.